Oil burner



1934- s. G. SMITH ET AL OIL BURNER Filed July 30, 1932 INVENTOR A W 35TH G. SM/TH EDMUND E Mom/v0 ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 27, 1934 1,982,359 on. comma Seth G. Smith, Springfield, and Edmund E. Moi-and, Westfield, Mass., assignors to Gilbert & Barker Manufacturing Company,

West

Springfield, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 30, 1932, Serial No. 626,418

3 Claims. (Cl. 158-87) This invention relates to improvements in oil" burners, particularly to those of the perforated combustion tube type.

One object of the invention is to provide for .the automatic lighting of the burner, by maintaining combustion at a low rate in a portion of the fuel groove of the burner and at the same time excluding combustion from the remainder of the groove until full combustion from the burner is required.

Another object is to provide for a pilot flame of sufficient proportions to maintain the burner base and perforated combustion tubes warm to facilitate vaporization of the oil on starting up of the burner and at the same time to confine the flame within such limits that very little heat is emitted from the burner when operating on the pilot flame alone.

These and other objects will best'appear as the detailed description proceeds and will be pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention will be disclosedfor illustrative purposes in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a small scale elevational view of the burner and the fuel supply means therefor;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the burner base;

- Fig. 3 is a sectional elevational view of the burner taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2; and

so Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 and, showing the dams in one of the fuel grooves.

Referring to this drawing, in Fig. 1 there is shown in more or less conventional form a burner b of the well known perforated combustion tube type, together with a fuel feeding means I therefor, of the bottle feeder" type, and valve control means 0 therefor.

The burner includes a base 10 having one or more fuel grooves 11 therein, and a pair of upstanding perforated tubes 12, one pair for each groove, which tubes afiord between them a combustion chamber 13. Where there are two grooves 11, as herein shown, there are openings 14 (Fig. 2) through the base between the grooves to allo air to flow upwardly therethrough. A plurali 1 (three as shown) of radial arms 15 interconnect the adjacent walls of adjacent grooves and these arms are provided with passages which allow constant communication between the fuel I grooves. Two of these passagesare marked 16 and the third passage, which is related to the pilot flame provisions, is marked 1'1. There is a central opening 18 through the base 10 to admit- '55 air to the interior of the innermost tube 12. A

cover 19 is provided for the several tubes 12 with appropriate outlets 20 therethrough for the combustion chambers 13. This cover usually blocks off the upper end of the air passage formed within the innermost sleeve as well as the air passage formed between the two intermediate sleeves.

Fuel is supplied from the reservoir 1 by way of a pipe 21, a control valve 22 and a pipe 23 to the base of one of the passages 16. The bottle feeder i will, as is well known in the art, maintain a 6 substantially constant level of oil in the reservoir r and thus in the fuel grooves 11, when valve 22 is opened. For pilot purposes, a separate supply of oil is provided by a pipe 24, connected to the main supply pipe 21 at a point back of valve 22 and leading to the base of the passage 17 in base 10. A control valve 25 is interposed in pipe 24 and this valve is normally open but throttled down to allow a constant but restricted flow of oil to the passage 17. The other valve 22 is opened or closed, according to whether or not heat is desired from the burner and it may be opened or closed in any suitable manner, automatically or by hand, as desired.

For the purpose of maintaining a pilot flame, a portion of each fuel groove 11 is partitioned off from the remainder thereof by two dams 26, disposed one on each side of the point of intersection of supply passage 1'1. Thus, a relatively short section of each groove is in communication with, and supplied with fuel by, the pipe 24 while the remainder of each groove is in communication with and supplied with fuel by pipe 23. A wick 2'? is placed-in each of the pilot grooves 28 formed between the dams 26. Wicks 29 are preferably placed in the main grooves 11 although these wicks are not necessarily essential for all purposes. The wicks 2'7 and 29 are preferably corrugated as shown and are otherwise of the same form. Each wick extends from end to end of its particular groove, although only a' portion of each wick has been shown iniull lines in Fig. 2,--the remainder being indicated by dot and dash lines. Each wick is suitably supported above the bottom of its groove and, as herein shown, two or more clips 30 are provided for this purpose, such clips frictionally engaging the side walls of the groove and providing saddle-like seats for their wick.

It is desirable, although not necessarily essential for all purposes, to partition of! to some extent at least that portion of each combustion chamber 13 which overlies a pilot groove 28. These partitions as herein shown, are formed by small angle irons 31 of thin sheetmetaheach mg having one leg secured to a tube 12 and the other projecting radially therefrom. and each extending vertically, or approximately so, in its combustion chamber. For example, one such angle iron is secured to the outer periphery of the inner tube 12 and another to the inner periphery of the next adjacent tube. The width of the projecting leg of each angle iron is equal to the radial distance between the two sleeves. By turning the sleeves, these two angle irons may be adjusted to lie in the desired relation with thedams 26 and the distance between them may be varied as desired. The preferred arrangement is indicated in Fig. 4, in which the two partitions are spaced apart by a distance slightly greater than the dams 26, so that each overlies the main groove 11 and there is a small space 32 between the lower end of each partition and the adjacent dam. These partitions extend from base 10 upwardly a sufficient distance to serve their purpose. Usually, they need extend upwardly only a relatively short dis-' tance, as indicated herein. Each pair of partitions forms a separate flue for a pilot section of the burner and insures a controlled draft for such sections. They shield the pilot flames when the burner is operating on low fire, from the air drafts in the other sections of the burner.

The operation of the burner will now be described. The valve 25 is constantly open but throttled down so that the oil level in the pilot sections 28 will, during operation of the pilot flame, be maintained somewhat lower than the level of oil existing in the remainder of grooves 11 at the time of starting up of the main fire. The same result can be'obtained without using a valve such as 25, the only essential being a restriction in the oil line to the pilot grooves. The pilot wicks 27 are maintained saturated with oil and combustion occurs in the small sections of the burner overlying the sections 28. In this way a pilot flame is maintained but, more than this, the flame is large enough so that enough heat is produced to keep the burner base 10 and tubes 12 warm. At the same time, the heat produced is not enough to unduly warm the stove or other form of heater in which the burner is used. When normal operation of the burner is required, the valve 22 is opened and oil then flows into the grooves 11. The walls of these grooves, being maintained warm by the heat derived from the pilot flame, the incoming oil is quickly vaporized and ignited from the pilot wicks 27. When the wicks 29 are used, the ignition is perhaps more quickly effected because theflame from the pilot wicks will readily ignite the adjoining ends of wicks 29. But even without these wicks 29, 'ignition will occur because the vapors from the oil,-

rising in grooves 11 above the dams 26 in the spaces 32 will ignite from the pilot flame and a flame will soon spread laterally around the groove 11. When heat from the burner is no longer needed, valve 22 is closed and the oil in the grooves 11 is soon consumed leaving these grooves and the wicks dry. The pilot flame, however, continues in operation and maintains the base 10 and tubes 12 warm. The pilot flame is blue in color and converges upwardly to a point located a short distance below cover 19.

One problem in providing a pilot flame in a burner of this character is to prevent the flame from spreading. Localized combustion at a low rate is all that is required. The wicks 27 alone would not serve the purpose and the dams 26 are necessary to confine combustion to the desired localized areas of the burner and enable a steady solid flame to be produced and one not likely to be easily extinguished. But for these dams, the vapor from the oil fed to the pilot wicks would spread around the grooves and a very unsteady, flickering flame of varying propertions would result, which is verylikely to become extinguished. The dams should preferably reach the top edges of the grooves and'the wicks 27 and 29 should not project very much above the dams and preferably not at all.

The main wicks 29 are a convenience in starting up the burner from a cold condition. They are not essential otherwise although, as stated above, they are desirable in accelerating the ignition of the burner.

The present invention has been developed after a large amount of research 'and experimentation, which definitely shows that successful results can be achieved only by duplicating in the pilot sections of the burner the conditions obtaining in the other sections thereof. The wicks 27 should be of the same kind as those ordinarily used in burners of this kind and they need to extend over a substantiallength of the groove. Pencil wicks, such as are frequently used for pilots, do not work satisfactorily in a burner of this type. What is required is to maintain a low fire in a section of substantial area to keep the parts warm enough to secure quick response when the main flow of oil is turned on. The invention really provides a burner more in the nature of the high-low type rather than a mere pilot, although of course the ignition feature is an important element of the invention. It is necessary, however, to do something more than to merely provide a pilot flame. The low fire flame must keep the parts warm; it must not be easily extinguished; and it must burn properly without odor or smoke. All this has been accomplished by the present invention.

Thus the invention provides an improved means for maintaining a low fire condition for the purpose of ignition and for the purpose of maintaining the burner warm so that a quick response is had when the main flow of oil is turned on.

What we claim is:

1. In an oil burner, a burner base having an endless groove therein, a pair of perforated tubes extending upwardly one from each side wall of said groove and affording therebetween a combustion chamber in overlying relation with said groove, a pair of dams dividing oif said groove into two sections, one of which is shorter than the other, means providing for a continuous supply of oil to the shorter section of said groove, means providing for an intermittent supply of oil tothe other section of said groove, a wick in said shorter section, and means partitioning ofi that section of the combustion chamber which overlies the shorter groove.

2. In an oil burner, a burner base having an endless groove therein, a pair of perforated tubes extending upwardly one from each side wall of said groove and affording therebetween a combustion chamber in overlying relation with said groove, a pair of dams dividing off said groove into two sections, one of which is shorter than the other, means providing for a continuous supply of oil to the shorter section of said groove, means providing for an intermittent supply of oil to the other section of said groove, a wick in said shorter section, and a pair of partitions secured one to each of said tubes and projecting radially one from the exterior of the inner tube to the interior of the second tube and the other and minor vaporizing sections, the minor section,

of the groove being substantially greater in length than in width and having a' maximum combustion capacity sufllcient to warm the burner base to a degree sufllcient to cause vaporization in the major section of the groove when fuel is admitted thereto, a wick in at least the minor section, continuously operable means to supply fuel to the minor section and. independently controlled and intermittently operable means to supply fuel to the major section oi! the'groove.

SETH (3. SMITH. EDMUND E. MORAND.

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